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Earle Page

Earle Christmas Grafton Page was Prime Minister for only 20 days, from 7 April 1939 to 26 April 1939. Page was also deputy Prime Minister to SM Bruce in 1923–29, and to Joseph Lyons in 1934–39. A founder of the Country Party, Page led the party in parliament from 1921 to 1939. He is also remembered for his long term as Minister for Health, from 1949–56, in the government of Robert Menzies.

Though Prime Minister for only three weeks in 1939, Dr Earle Page was deputy Prime Minister for six years from 1923 to 1929.

NAA: A1200, L69705

Described as ‘a man of boundless energy, fertile in ideas’, Page spoke at a rapid rate, rarely pausing for breath. His partnership with the deliberate and measured SM Bruce was an ideal political combination – particularly for political cartoonists. During the 1920s, cartoons depicted Bruce as a dapper gentleman and Page as ‘a rather riotous-looking lady’.